Baldur’s Gate 3 lets you dive into the world of Dungeons & Dragons, translated from the tabletop to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S by Larian Studios. As such, the game is filled with fantastical creatures, deadly adversaries, and intriguing quests for you to encounter and overcome.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 launched some nice race options, but these mods greatly expand the available races to choose from when creating your perfect Tav.
One early Baldur’s Gate 3 quest that can lead to an unexpected outcome is Search the Cellar, which can be started in Act One’s Blighted Village. Upon reading a journal in the village alchemist’s house, you will be given the quest to discover the alchemist’s true identity — and the contents of his secret cellar below the house.
Updated by Jeff Brooks on November 5, 2025: This guide details what can be done with the Necromancy of Thay, from humble Act One beginnings all the way into late-game Act Three adventures. You’ll need to pass some very difficult skill checks for the best rewards, but this book is absolutely worth the time investment needed to obtain it. The guide has been updated with new images, formatting, helpful links, and clearer instructions on what to do with this mysterious tome to get the most out of it.
Where to Find the Necromancy of Thay
Beneath the Blighted Village (Act One)
The Necromancy of Thay is an evil book that you can find very early on in your journey in Baldur’s Gate 3. More specifically, you can find it in Act One in the Apothecary Basement. All you need to do is travel to the Blighted Village, then go into the first house to your left from the Blighted Village waypoint. This is the village Apothecary, and you’ll be able to find a wooden hatch just behind the counter leading into the basement of the Apothecary.
Once you’re in the Apothecary’s basement, look for a lever on the wall behind some crates on the opposite side of the basement from the ladder. Activating this lever will open a nearby secret passageway, which will eventually lead to a confrontation with some Skeleton Guardians. Once you take these out, keep exploring the basement to eventually stumble upon the Ornate Mirror. As it turns out, this is a Magic Mirror that you can actually speak with, and there are a number of different ways you can successfully get past the mirror and into the room holding the Necromancy of Thay book:
|
Dialogue Options |
DC |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
|
Intimidation |
15+ |
You can attempt to intimidate the mirror by threatening to break it. |
|
Bard Intimidation |
15+ |
You can threaten the mirror if you’re a Bard, saying you’ll sell it off as an antique. |
|
Strength |
15+ |
You can use a nearby rock to directly smash the mirror without passing a Toughness threshold. |
|
Dark Journal (Persuasion) |
15+ |
If you found the Dark Journal in the casket in this basement and read it, you can trick the mirror into thinking you are its owner, Ilyn Toth. |
|
Destroy the Mirror |
N/A |
Outside of the conversation, if you can deal 22+ damage to the mirror in a single hit, you can destroy it, passing the medium Toughness threshold. |
|
Pass the Mirror’s Quiz |
N/A |
You can also go down the route of answering a series of questions from the mirror, and this quiz comes with its own skill checks and paths. |
After getting past the Magic Mirror, you’ll need to find the Rusted Key or use a variety of other methods to get into the Rusted Iron Gate in this room. You’ll obviously want to disarm the traps in this room first, but once you get inside, you’ll be able to grab the Necromancy of Thay book.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Quest Order In Act 3
Act 3 is the final act of Baldur’s Gate 3, and this is the recommended order to complete all of the Act 3 related quests in.
How to Open the Necromancy of Thay
You’ll Need to Find a Dark Amethyst
To actually open the Necromancy of Thay book, you’re going to need a Dark Amethyst. Thankfully, this can also be found in the Blighted Village — more specifically, down the well in the village in the lair of the Matriarch Spider. You’ll need to climb down this well (or, alternatively, break down a wall leading into the cavern beneath the well in the Blacksmith’s cellar). You can find the Dark Amethyst on a pile of bones on the western side of this cavern, behind all the Phase Spiders as well as their Matriarch.
The standard path is to defeat all these spiders first and then get the Dark Amethyst, but you can also use stealth or invisibility to sneak past the spiders, grab the Amethyst, and teleport out, though this is a lot trickier to pull off.
After obtaining the Dark Amethyst using whichever route you decide on, simply interact with the Necromancy of Thay book in your inventory. You’ll get the option to ‘Place the amethyst in the slot on the book’s cover,‘ and you’ll want to select this. From here, you’ll then have four options, and the one you’ll want to choose is to ‘Open the book’.
What to Do With the Necromancy of Thay
Obviously, You’ll Want to Read It
If you’re looking up a guide on how to open the Necromancy of Thay book, you probably want to read it successfully. To read this book, you’ll need to pass three separate Wisdom checks after opening the book, and if you fail any of them, you’ll suffer a curse (either the Whispers of Madness or Baleful Knowledge curse, both of which do the same thing: cause Disadvantage on Wisdom Checks until the Remove Curse spell has been cast on the character).
However, with each success, you’ll earn rewards such as the Speak with Dead Ritual Spell and the Forbidden Knowledge passive feature. After passing all three of the initial Saving Throws, you’ll have obtained everything you can from the book (for now), and it’ll slam shut.
Unlock the Necromancy of Thay’s Full Potential in Act Three
It’s easy to forget about an item tucked away in your inventory from all the way back in Act One, but you’re finally able to unlock the Necromancy of Thay’s full potential in the titular city of Baldur’s Gate with the help of the Tharchiate Codex, a secretive tome found in the vault beneath Sorcerous Sundries — specifically, Elminister’s section of the vault.
Reading the Tharchiate Codex will curse your character with Tharchiate Withering, which lowers their Constitution score by 5 points. Once the curse is lifted via the Remove Curse spell, however, your character will then benefit from the Tharchiate Codex: Blessing, which grants 20 Temporary Hit Points once per Long Rest.
After you’ve read through the Tharchiate Codex, you can then re-read the Necromancy of Thay. Passing a Wisdom Saving Throw (DC 20) on the re-read will then grant a powerful new ability: you can cast the Danse Macabre spell, which summons four Ghouls to fight for you.
The table below details a full breakdown of the possible rewards received for reading the Necromancy of Thay.
|
Task |
Reward |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
|
Turning (at least) one page successfully |
Speak with Dead Ritual Spell |
Whoever did this will have the Speak with Dead Spell permanently castable as a Ritual Spell for them. |
|
Turning all three pages successfully |
Forbidden Knowledge |
A permanent passive feature that grants you +1 to all Wisdom Saving Throws and Ability Checks. |
|
Re-reading the book after reading the Tharchiate Codex |
Danse Macabre Spell |
A permanent 5th-level Necromancy Spell that unlocks for the character reading the book; it allows them to summon four (uncontrollable) Ghouls to fight for you. Usable once per Long Rest. |
What if You Choose to Destroy the Necromancy of Thay?
If you’d rather not delve into the book’s dark secrets, you can choose to destroy the book using Radiant damage, but this isn’t really recommended as it only really gets you a bit of approval from Karlach, Lae’zel, and Will — and it also forces you to fight three hostile Shadows when the book is destroyed.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Hardest Bosses In The Game
Baldur’s Gate 3 has some scarily challenging boss fights. For these threats, players should be prepared and have their tactics honed.
What to Do With the Necromancy of Thay (Video Walkthrough)
Overall, the Necromancy of Thay is one of the most mysterious items in Act One, and it’s great that there are so many different ways to approach opening it — and rewards for doing so.
- Released
-
August 3, 2023
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
